First Date
by KharmicHammer
Summary: One shot FemShep/Tali story. Just a short story about their first date and what happens on it. Can a date be right when everything goes wrong?
_I don't own Mass Effect, Bioware does._

 _A/N: So yeah, I have no idea where this one came from, but the inspiration gremlins in my brain demanded I write it before I could continue with my other stories, so here goes. It's just a little oneshot fluff thing with a simple premise - can a first date turn out all right when everything goes wrong?_

* * *

Alexandra Shepard hesitated before knocking on the door of the cabin. It was so stupid, if she stopped to think about it. They'd survived a damn suicide mission. Hell, she'd even been dead! ( _I got better, but still_ ). So why was she so skittish? Why couldn't she just knock?

"It's just a date." She took a deep breath and steadied herself. "It's not like it's the end of the world."

She raised her hand again and, before she could let her nervousness get the better of her, she rapped lightly on the cool metal of the door.

" _One minute_." The muffled voice from inside called, sending the butterflies in her stomach into overdrive. _No backing out now_. She ran her hands down her sides, smoothing out the dress she'd chosen for the evening. 'Chosen' might be too strong a word - the dress was the only one she currently owned. Just one more unintended consequence of having everything she owned blown up along with the first _Normandy_. So the dress Kasumi had acquired for her was pretty much her only piece of clothing that didn't scream 'I shoot stuff for a living and like it'.

The door hissed open.

Shepard gulped. "H - Hi."

"Shepard." Tali replied quietly, shifting a little. "You look very nice."

She could feel her face flushing a little. "So do you."

"I'm just in my suit." She heard the smirk in the quarian's voice.

"Yeah, but... I mean... Tali..." She paused. "I guess it's seeing you now, when we're not as we usually are. Not that you don't always look nice, but... Okay, shutting up now."

"And I'm usually the one babbling." Tali laughed, though a nervous edge tinged her voice.

"I like it when you babble." Shepard smiled shyly. She didn't know if Tali blushed, but the quarian did reach out and gently take her hand. Their fingers laced together. They both paused a moment, simply staring at each other.

"We should get going." She said at last. She stepped back, leading Tali out into the corridor.

"Where are we going?" The quarian walked with her. Fortunately, most of the crew was taking advantage of their shore leave and were eagerly exploring the Citadel, so the halls of the _Normandy_ were pretty quiet.

"The asari embassy has an exhibit on loan from Thessia. Councillor Tevos provided some tickets as thanks for how we managed to handle the whole Justicar thing on Illium without causing any news incidents. I thought we could get dinner then go see it."

"First a dress, now an art show? You better hope Joker doesn't find out about this." Tali giggled. "You'd never hear the end of it."

"I want tonight to be special for you. For us."

"It already is." The quarian squeezed her hand.

* * *

The two women took a cab to the Presidium, Shepard stopping it at the gardens. When Tali looked over to her curiously, she smiled. "I thought it might be nice to take a walk first."

Fortunately, she'd timed things right, and dusk was just starting as they arrived. While the Citadel might not have a true solar cycle, the artificial lighting on the Presidium mimiced one closely. The setting 'sun' bathed the whole park in a beautiful pale purple glow. Shepard especially liked how well the light complemented the coloring of Tali's suit.

"It's nice to come here for once and not have to worry about a mission or politics or anything." Tali commented. She reached out and Shepard felt their hands link again. "When I first came here, on Pilgrimage, CSec would not allow me up here. It was only after I met you that I finally got to see it."

 _Great, make her remember how poorly most of the Council races treat quarians and don't want to be bothered by them. Wonderful start to the date._ "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

"You didn't." The quarian reassured her. "I... I'm grateful. You've done so much for me. You mean so much to me. I wanted to say -"

She was interrupted by a very young turian who had run ahead of his parents and bumped into Tali's right leg. He stared up at the two women, wide eyed.

"Jurius! Don't go running like that in public." The male turian called as he hurried over, his mate a step behind. "Please, accept my apologies for my son. He should know better than to do this."

"But Father, she looks just like Commander Shepard!" The child kept staring at her.

Shepard could feel her face heating as Tali suppressed a laugh. "She gets that a lot."

"Even so, that is no excuse to forget your manners." The mother chided before turning her attention to the human. She looked Shepard up and down, then turned away dismissively. "Besides, she is clearly too tall to be Commander Shepard. Now apologize for interrupting them."

"I'm sorry." The child apologized, but she could see the curiousity burning behind his gaze.

Tali waited until the family had moved on before she finally stopped holding in her laughter. "Keelah! That... that..."

"I think I've had enough walking. Let's just go to dinner." Shepard replied tightly.

"Probably for the best. We can use the extra time to make sure no one at the restaurant gets your identity confused. After all, you look just like Commander Shepard." Tali snickered.

"That's a good point. Maybe we should just go to the Fishdog Food Factory instead. We'd be pretty anonymous there, and we could enjoy some nice Krogan cuisine." She teased back.

"You wouldn't do that!"

"I look just your captain, that gives me special powers."

* * *

Shepard led Tali in through the doors of _Emerald_ , the salarian restaurant situated on one end of the park. The impressed gasp the quarian gave sent a wave of pride flowing through her. She'd had to call in some favors to get a last-minute reservation here, but it was worth it. At least she'd gotten this part of the date right, if Tali's reaction was anything to go by.

"How did you manage this?"

"I told them I was Commander Shepard, and they believed me, even though I'm clearly too tall to really be her." She replied with a straight face.

"Well, you better be careful. The real Shepard might show up and she'd probably be pretty upset you stole her reservation."

"Not to mention, stole her date too. I know I'd be mad if someone took away the most amazing quarian in the galaxy." She smiled.

Tali turned away, embarrassed. "What if she made a mistake on that part?"

"Tali... Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" The quarian asked defensively.

"Joke like you're not good enough for me." Shepard stared at her.

"I just... sometimes I wonder why you chose me. We're so different." She held up the menu, displaying the page with the dextro food options. "You're the captain of one of the most advanced and powerful ships in the galaxy, I'm an engineer. Even before you became a Spectre, you were a hero in the Alliance and beyond. We can't eat the same food, we can't even touch, not without my suit getting in the way."

"I don't care about any of that." She reached across the table, taking one of Tali's hands. "And the only reason I'm here right now is because of you. There's no way I would be here without you. I really li -"

"Insincere greetings: Welcome to _Emerald_ , the crown jewel of the Presidium dining experience. I am Padront. I will be your server tonight." An elcor wearing the serving uniform walked over to their table. "Sycophantic pandering: Can I interest you in an appetizer?"

"Uh, what would you reccommend?" She asked. _Damn it, talk about bad timing! I was going to tell her..._

"Helpfully: This one would suggest salads. We carry both normal and dextro vegetables."

Shepard looked over at Tali, who nodded. "We'll start with that, then."

"Patiently: Would you like a drink with that as well? Proudly: We carry the largest wine list on the Citadel." The elcor told her.

"Sure."

"Helpfully: The turian vintages are especially good." With his advice, she perused the list and picked out two wines.

"See?" Tali said once he'd left them alone. "We can't even order from the same menu."

"I told you, that doesn't matter to me. You're special to me, Tali. So please, don't ever think you're not good enough or anything. It hurts to hear it."

"You're special to me too." The quarian softened.

"Embarrassed interjection: Here are your salads. Allow me to also pour your wine." The elcor placed two delicious-looking salads in front of them. "Happily: May I get you anything else for now?"

"No, we're good." _Go. Away!_

"Thankfully: Enjoy your meal."

They were relatively quiet as they started eating, but from the happy noises Tali made, she really liked the food. _I owe Garrus big time for suggesting this place. So glad he knows the Citadel well enough to know the good spots._ "You approve?"

"This is wonderful." Tali gushed. "You have no idea how rare it is for me to get fresh food like this."

"I'm glad you like it." She smiled back.

"Thank you for this."

"Now that I know, I'll have to take you here again."

"Again?" She could hear the humor in the quarian's voice. "Don't you think you're trying to mine the Eezo before you're sure you've located the deposit."

"Well, if that's how you feel, I guess we should skip dessert. Even though they're supposed to have the best dextro-chocolate on the Citadel..." Shepard teased.

"I didn't say that." Tali said hastily.

"Just so we're clear." She smiled.

* * *

"So, what is this exhibit we're going to?" Tali asked her.

"I'm not exactly sure." Shepard admitted. "All I know is that it's an exclusive display hosted in the asari embassy. It's pretty new as well, so I haven't heard many details."

"Interesting." The quarian mused.

The guard at the door of the asari embassy eyed them skeptically, but the invitation endorsed by Councillor Tevos got them past her. As expected, most of the guests were asari, with a scattering of various other races. They passed the entry and stopped, taking in the exhibit.

"It's amazing." Tali said quietly, and Shepard could only nod her agreement. Sculptures made of gems of all types dotted the room. While sapphires and diamonds were the majority, other colors also were on display. A tree of emeralds stood in the middle of the room, the facets on the gems casting a pleasing green glow over the center.

They walked over to a smaller sculpture, this one of a coast from Thessia. "You know, everyone talks about how much the asari dominate culture and trade in Council space, but this... you see it and it's incredible."

"We could refit the entire Migrant Fleet many times over with the money this must have cost." The quarian commented.

"Are you enjoying our exhibit?" An asari had moved through the crowd to join them. The woman wore a shimmering blue dress that accented her coloring, and something about her smile sent a shiver of worry through Shepard.

"Yes, it's very impressive." Shepard moved a step closer to Tali, whom the asari seemed to be ignoring.

"Ambassador Teinma." The woman introduced herself.

"I'm -" She started to reply, but the asari interrupted her.

" _Everyone_ knows you, Commander Shepard." Teinma traced her fingers along Shepard's forearm. "The beautiful and heroic Spectre who saved the Citadel."

She could feel Tali's glare as she tried to get away from the asari without causing an incident. "Ah, it was a team effort. In fact, Tali here was vital in helping stop Saren and Sovereign. This is my _date_ ," She stressed the word, "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

"A pleasure," The asari nodded politely but dismissively to Tali before returning her unwanted attention to Shepard. "Commander, I would be more than happy to arrange a... _private_ tour for you."

"Ah, no thank you, Ambassador." _Don't cause an incident, don't cause an incident, don't cause an incident_...

"It would be no trouble at all. I'm sure we would have plenty to talk about." The asari purred.

"She said no." Tali stepped between them.

"Clearly she could do with some ... proper company for an event like this."

"She doesn't need some bosh'tet slut like you."

"Well, she can clearly do better than the space trash of the galaxy!"

 _That's it!_

* * *

"... Fortunately for you, the asari embassy has dropped all charges, given that witnesses confirm Ambassador Teinma deliberately provoked the incident, Shepard." Captain Bailey told her. "And I have to say, it's good to see that bitch taken down a peg. She's been a pain in the rear for me for the past few months. Causing a ton of trouble at events. But she's a friend of Tevos, so yeah, we've had to let most of it go."

"Sorry for adding to your troubles." She sat up a bit in the chair. "Thank you for taking care of this, though."

"I think it's safe to call us even. The vid of your girlfriend decking that blue slut into buffet table will keep morale up around here for quite a while." He grinned. "You have no idea how many of the troops wanted to do that."

"Well, thank you again. I'll go collect Tali and we'll be out of your hair."

"Just keep her away from the asari for a while, and something else will go wrong and everyone will forget about this." He waved farewell to her.

"Shepard, I'm so sorry." Tali apologized when they met up in the lobby of CSec.

"Don't be. If you hadn't, I would have blasted her with my biotics." Shepard smiled.

"We're really free to go?"

"Being a Spectre has a few perks, I guess. Still, we should probably head back to the _Normandy_ at this point." She sighed.

* * *

 _The next day:_

"Tali." Shepard opened the door to Engineering. "Uh, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"What can I do for you, Commander?" _Commander? Ouch_.

"In private?" She asked. The quarian nodded curtly and followed her to an empty hallway. "I'm sorry about last night. I know it was terrible and weird and we just sort of called it short and ran back to the _Normandy_ and -"

"Shepard." Tali's voice cut through her rambling. "It's okay." She moved over to the human and put her arms around her. "You tried to make the evening special, and it was."

"But nothing went right." Shepard smiled shyly.

"I know. At least it's unforgettable." Tali pulled her closer.

"A total disaster." The quarian felt so good in her arms...

"Epic disaster..." Tali leaned in, resting her helmet against Shepard's shoulder. "So when are we going on another?"

 _End_

* * *

 _A/N 2: Yeah, I know, no real point. It's not connected to any of my other stories either. Just a short little fluff thing. I had a few more scenes I could have put in there, but honestly, I think this covered what I intended._

 _Whether they had a good first date or not depends on your point of view :)_


End file.
